형사소송법이 정하는 구속의 요건은 범죄혐의의 상당성과 구속사유의 구비이다. 여기에 소년법은 “소년에 대한 구속영장은 부득이한 경우가 아니면 발부하지 못한다.”고 규정하여 소년의 구속을 더욱 제한하고 있다. 그러므로 범죄소년을 구속하려면 일반적 구속요건의 충족 외에 그것이 ‘부득이한 경우’일 것을 요한다. 이와 같이 소년의 구속에는 성인보다 엄격한 가중요건을 두고 있으므로, 이론상 소년의 구속비율이 성인의 구속비율을 상회하기는 어렵다. 그럼에도 통계상 확인되는 수치는 소년이 성인을 상당히 앞지르고 있는 것으로 나타나고 있다. 소년에 대한 구속제한 규정의 존재에도 불구하고, 법과 현실 사이에 괴리가 발생하는 이유는 ‘부득이한 경우’가 별다른 법적 효력 없이 공허한 수사(修辭)로 전락한 사정과 무관하지 않다. 그러한 사정 하에서 주거부정, 도망 또는 증거인멸의 염려라는 구속사유와 보다 친숙한 소년범의 특성상, 소년의 구속이 성인보다 쉽게 승인될 수밖에 없다. 그러나 구속의 폐해는 소년의 경우에 더욱 심각하므로 형사절차에서 소년의 구속은 가급적 피해야 한다. 반면, 그렇다고 하여 범죄혐의의 상당성과 구속사유까지 갖추고 있는 소년을 부득이한 경우가 아니라면서 그대로 석방하기에도 난점이 있다. 이와 같은 딜레마를 해결하는 방안으로 본고에서는 일본 소년법을 참고하여 ‘구속에 대신하는 임시조치’라는 제도의 신설을 제안하였다. 이를 통해 소년의 구속을 줄이는 동시에 형사사법과 소년사법의 조화와 균형을 달성할 수 있다.

The Criminal Procedure Act stipulates that the court may detain the defendant when there is reasonable ground to suspect that he has committed a crime and he falls under the legal requirements. In addition to those requirements, the Juvenile Act requires another strict condition that a juvenile warrant of detention shall not be issued unless the circumstances unavoidably necessitate it. Therefore, the detention rate of juvenile offenders cannot be higher than that of adult criminals theoretically. However, as a matter of fact, according to the statistics, it has been way more frequent for the juvenile offenders to be detained than adult criminals for the last few years. The reason why the statistics is inconsistent with the reality is that the strict rule for detention, ‘under unavoidable circumstances’, which the Juvenile Act stipulates, has not been working in the criminal procedure of detaining juvenile offenders so far. Specifically, it can be easy for investigators like police to detain juvenile offenders who are more applicable to the legal requirements for detention than adult criminals. * Head of Public Safety Department, Police Training Institute. ** Professor, Korean National Police University. To overcome this contradictory reality, the detention of juvenile offenders should be limited under strict condition because the detention might affect the rehabilitation for them badly. One the other hand, another problem is that legal limitation on the detention can allow juvenile offenders to get free easily even though they commit serious crimes. Therefore, this study suggests the practical procedure, ‘Temporary measures instead of the detention’, which is adopted from Japan’s Juvenile Act, to resolve those problems and other related issues. Through the suggested system, I surely expect that the detention rate of juvenile offenders reduce as time goes by, and criminal justice and juvenile justice can be balanced eventually.

The Criminal Procedure Act stipulates that the court may detain the defendant when there is reasonable ground to suspect that he has committed a crime and he falls under the legal requirements. In addition to those requirements, the Juvenile Act requires another strict condition that a juvenile warrant of detention shall not be issued unless the circumstances unavoidably necessitate it. Therefore, the detention rate of juvenile offenders cannot be higher than that of adult criminals theoretically. However, as a matter of fact, according to the statistics, it has been way more frequent for the juvenile offenders to be detained than adult criminals for the last few years. The reason why the statistics is inconsistent with the reality is that the strict rule for detention, ‘under unavoidable circumstances’, which the Juvenile Act stipulates, has not been working in the criminal procedure of detaining juvenile offenders so far. Specifically, it can be easy for investigators like police to detain juvenile offenders who are more applicable to the legal requirements for detention than adult criminals. * Head of Public Safety Department, Police Training Institute. ** Professor, Korean National Police University. To overcome this contradictory reality, the detention of juvenile offenders should be limited under strict condition because the detention might affect the rehabilitation for them badly. One the other hand, another problem is that legal limitation on the detention can allow juvenile offenders to get free easily even though they commit serious crimes. Therefore, this study suggests the practical procedure, ‘Temporary measures instead of the detention’, which is adopted from Japan’s Juvenile Act, to resolve those problems and other related issues. Through the suggested system, I surely expect that the detention rate of juvenile offenders reduce as time goes by, and criminal justice and juvenile justice can be balanced eventually.

The Juvenile Act, Juvenile offender, Unavoidable circumstances, Detention, Temporary measures